Research On Social Changes In Migrant Resettlement Communities From The Perspective Of New-Type Urbanization

Urbanization is the process of continuous rural population migration towards cities.The new type of urbanization focuses on people,utilizes county towns as carriers,coordinates new development drivers and approaches such as urban-rural integration,regional economy,rural ecology,and traditional culture.Its goal is to achieve the urbanization path that aims to transform farmers into urban citizens.Relocation for poverty alleviation is a government-led development approach aimed at lifting people out of poverty and achieving prosperity.It combines functions and roles of urbanization and new-type urbanization.Guizhou Province has the largest scale and population in the country for relocation aimed at poverty alleviation,with a relatively high concentration of urban resettlement rates.Among its regions,the Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture stands out as the most representative area for urbanization resettlement within Guizhou Province."Mushroom Town" is a resettlement community formed under the relocation policy of Anlong County in Qianxinan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture,Guizhou Province,for poverty alleviation and resettlement purposes.This doctoral dissertation takes "Mushroom Town" as a case study,integrating historical documents,individual narratives,on-site observations,and theoretical analysis.It interweaves static descriptions of the present state with dynamic process analyses,highlighting perspectives of the immigrants alongside researcher analyses.Set against the backdrop of the new-type urbanization centered around county towns,the dissertation vividly portrays the transformations in various aspects of Mushroom Town and its residents,including residential spaces,livelihoods,employment perspectives,community culture,social relationships,identity recognition,and power structures.For the migrants of Mushroom Town,the change in living spaces and the consequent shifts in behavioral habits,lifestyle perspectives,and leisure activities related to public spaces represent the initial challenges they face after moving from rural areas to urban towns.Once settled into their new residences,the most pressing concern for every relocated migrant is whether they will have viable means of livelihood.Urbanization-driven relocations completely alter migrants’ ways of making a living,shifting them from traditional livelihoods such as terrace farming,hillside cultivation,poultry rearing,and migrant labor,which they once took pride in.Instead,they transition into diverse forms of livelihood within the migrant community,such as mushroom cultivation,workshop processing,and industrial manufacturing in various complexes.If livelihood constitutes the economic foundation determining migrants’ survival,then beliefs and customs play a crucial cultural role in influencing their sense of belonging within the migrant community.Following the relocation,influenced by urbanization,traditional village beliefs in sacred trees and "ghost chickens" have gradually faded away,while ancestral worship-related traditions continue and are passed down in the new community.Simultaneously,a new community culture is emerging,primarily focused on the development of family values,family culture,and community culture.The reconstruction of living styles and living spaces also impacts migrants’ social interactions.Urbanization resettlement affects the maintenance of intergenerational family relationships on one hand and can reconstruct general kinship relationships on the other.The degree of impact on kinship relations is closely related to the hierarchical nature of those relations.Geographical relationships are also influenced by the mode of relocation and resettlement.On one hand,neighborly relationships based on reciprocity and trust persist in modern urban communities.On the other hand,modern urban "stranger" relationships,mainly based on building-level neighborhoods,are replacing the traditional village’s "acquaintance" relationships.Moreover,the formation of various occupational identities such as security personnel,cleaners,workshop employees,and individual business owners has led to a diversification of professional relationships.All of these changes ultimately reflect the transition from rural farmers to new urban citizens,and the most direct correlation with this new urban citizen status is the change in organizational management structures.This is primarily reflected in the shift from village committees to neighborhood committees,and from village chiefs to building managers.The key to community governance for migrants lies in how to retain people.Through the study of social changes in the Mushroom Town migrant resettlement community,it can be concluded that: Firstly,Mushroom Town serves as a resettlement community that integrates poverty alleviation relocation,urbanization construction,and the advancement of new-type urbanization.It aims to coordinate the integrated development of urban and rural areas.Positioned between urban and rural areas,it possesses the attributes of a transitional community.Secondly,from an anthropological perspective,the new-type urbanization construction in the Mushroom Town migrant resettlement community holds cultural enlightenment value.It’s discovered that the "home" culture continues to persist throughout the transformation process from traditional village to modern community,serving as the foundation for personal development,sustaining existential meaning,and constructing cultural connotations.It’s also a key aspect of new-type urbanization migrant community construction centered around county towns and achieving "heritage transmission".Thirdly,Mushroom Town plays an exemplary role in understanding the functions,trends,and driving significance of new-type urbanization construction.The case of Mushroom Town provides insights into Guizhou,an area with the largest scale and heaviest task of poverty alleviation relocation,and a deeper understanding of the macro-regional development pattern characterized by a hierarchical system of "center-periphery" within the current urban system of mega-cities,extra-large cities,large and mediumsized cities,county towns,and rural areas.